JLNobody wrote:The Pentacle Queen's comment is very Nietzschean.
I like Vikkor's perspective: "Don't forget you can leave part of you in the cave, and sometimes you visit the cave without knowing it, and other times you think you are out of the cave, without knowing that you are just in a drafty part of the cave...etc."
I left the cave some years ago, but found myself in an outdoor cave. Since then I hold that to know one is asleep is kind of awakedness.
Thanks JL, I know very little of Nietzsche, but would like to, which of his works would you recommend?
Looking back to my original post I don't believe I didn't include that. 'I'm out the cave!' does smack of a certain arrogance of opinion, which is the last thing I wanted to convey. This last year, and especially in these last few months I've changed so much, and with each realization and each change, it's if a layer of film has peeled off the top of my head, allowing me to think clearer. At the time I wrote this post I had a solid feeling that I was definitely 'out' and part of that was to do with the fact I knew that there really is no 'out' and you're always 'in' in some form or another.
I think the recognition of being 'in' is an important one, because it's to do with the placement of your thoughts. Less open minded people, perhaps people who believe their thoughts objectively see each step out of the cave as a new unquestionable correct perspective, therefore their inability to see themselves as still 'in.'
So the paradox is...
If you think you're in you're out,
... but if you think you're out you're in.